This was originally published on Medium.
A common stream of advice: just get started! Oh! Wow! What a marvelous breakthrough.
We spend most of our lives deciding the next thing to do or planning the future. You get stuck because you canât even pick a restaurant for delivery. Or you are stuck planning 20 years in the future- you never do ANYTHING.
Many articles talk about motivation. Others talk about âsparkâ, an initial cosmic push. These both need to exist. The problem is that motivation often comes after the spark. Or, we know WHY we want (or ought) to do something but never get that push.
You want to work out. You know WHY. But you never do. Days turn into weeks, months turn into two decades. You want to make a business. You donât know WHAT. You have no product. No ideas.
That is because you lack (at least) one of the following:
The Four Ingredients
- Intrigue
- Spark
- Motivation
- Supplementation
These four ingredients work well for everything from language learning to making millions. An important note here is that the order doesnât matter.
It took years of me reading about programming passively to jump in. I found intrigue but I had no motivation to complete a full product. I supplemented my intrigue with reading and lurking in corners. The idea of playing god sparked me to go all in. The money-making potential is good too. You can program things that donât exist in real life. I assume authors and other creatives have a similar feeling. You can create entire WORLDS, bigger than the one we inhabit. The actual âsparkâ moment was reading an article about this young kid. He made millions making trivial things I had already built. They labeled him as a genius, but I thought- I could do that! I have done that! And better! BAM! Motivation.
The spark seems to be the hardest part. If you are only motivated, you talk in circles or plan⊠plan⊠plan⊠planâŠ.
Only supplementing material means you are a casual lurker. Letâs say you are a fan of portable gaming consoles. You might read every hardware and gaming magazines. You might be able to list every custom console mod video on YouTube. But the idea of dumping $500 into a portable SNES seems intimidating or reckless to you. You never try to learn the actual skill.
Intrigue; the fickle beast. Some people flit from one beautiful butterfly of an idea to the next without letting them fly. Curiosity killed the cat, but the human has to suffer knowing they did not act!
Spark something! Wanna workout? Do a SINGLE jumping jack. Or even put on workout gear. Wanna make a business? Look up your last contacted (personal) number. Ask them what they need or have trouble with day-to-day. Even if you could care less, help them. Your mind will be racing with potential possibilities.
A single push up isnât working out. But- you wonât do one. You got the object in motion. And an object in motionâŠ
Hereâs a case study: my girlfriend. She wanted to workout forEVER but needed an initial spark.
1. Intrigue
One night, she complained to me that it was my job to remind her to work out. I groaned as this was something familiar I had heard for the past year and a half. Today was different. I jumped out of bed, ran to the Nintendo Switch, and turned on Just Dance. A random song selection showed on the screen.
2. Spark that Tinder (not the app!)
I whisked her out of bed and forced her to do a single Just Dance dance at 1 am (sorry neighbors!).
3. Motivation
Before allowing her to sleep, I drew (poorly) a calendar for a month of workouts. Not labeled, just 7 blank boxes for 4 weeks. I also made her sign her name for accountability.
Extremely well made âsoftwareâ
4. Supplement Your Spark
But we didnât stop there. To supplement this, she started doing online youtube workouts programs. To our regular media consumption, Iâll throw in videos about exercise or nutrition.
I also threw together a custom (and prettier) digital workout calendar for her.
Extremely well made âsoftwareâ
It didnât take long and that was my spark to make smaller programs that help out my friends and family.
It was a fun side project for me and she got to customize the colors and how it works. When you hover over the day numbers, they wiggle a little bit to give it a tactile feel. When clicked, fireworks pop out of the cursor! How is that for custom software (or an over-glorified website)!
Starting Points
Everyone is at different points. You may have checked 3 of those checkboxes. Heck, you might even have the spark, the motivation, and the supplementation it but lost your intrigue! All four need to exist for sustainability, but the spark is the easiest to get the rest in line. If you find yourself sitting around for months bored and unfulfilled, you need a spark. This article was a spark for me.
Conclusion
Let me know if you have any examples of where these 4 ingredients (intrigue, motivation, spark, supplementation) came into play. Was one area lacking? How will you spark your next adventure?
Bonus: The Fifth (Secret) Ingredient!
Investment is important for sustaining your long term goals. If you put down $100 on a new gaming mouse, you will be ecstatic to try it out. You might game for 10 hours straight (for the next 10 weeks)! We âinvestâ in bad habits and wants all the time.
Why not invest in something MEANINGFUL- or at least better than bad? There were massive sales lately at most retail/clothing stores. My girlfriend bought a new set of workout clothes, new shoes, and a yoga mat.
That said, this should be the last step for most people. If you want to be a YouTuber, whip out your iPhone and get going. Waiting to save $3000 on a camera with diminishing returns doesnât get you started. You can invest at a later point. It might even dissuade you from continuing. Donât let poor investment become a regret that stops you from trying other things.
Investing demonstrates faith. But try something first! Blind faith is stupid, and so is callous investing. Without trying, you canât build the initial spark and tie it with motivation. Your assumptions about what something is may be completely wrong. I started in Electrical Engineering and realized it wasnât what I thought. It helped me discover I wanted to pursue software so I switched to Computer Engineering. If I had doubled down in Electrical Engineering, I would have most likely dropped out.
An added benefit is people take you seriously. Do you want to work with a music producer who invested in a home studio, or someone using a Guitar Hero mic and a free recording program? People respect investment. It shows faith in yourself and your path. You donât have to spend a billion dollars on every piece. You donât need the BEST of everything.
But Iâve met dozens of people who refuse to pay even $5 to invest in something they are passionate about. They refuse to use anything but free. This is not to knock the amazing free and open source solutions out there. We live in a time with incredible access to information. But if you want to be a runner, buy some decent running shoes. If you want to be a singer, the Guitar Hero mic wonât cut it for long. You can make full songs in the free recording software, Audacity- but why would you want to? If you want transferable skills, using professional software is worth it for amateurs. I wouldnât try to become a professional choregrapher from only playing Just Dance.
Avoiding all knowledge paywalls is bad practice. Imagine a book that costs $15. It is the definitive guide to your industry or niche. All the knowledge exists aggregated and well researched in one spot. Why waste hours on free courses and unstructured Google searches? Youâll save more by investing.